I Love You, I Love You Not
by drakie cakie
Summary: Merlin! Not another Potter-Malfoy debacle! Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy battle each other in everything, including bed partners. Is their passion something more than can be seen on the surface? AS/S, Albus Severus/Scorpius, yaoi.


**Author:** Anonymous

**Recipient:** raitala

**Title:** I Love You, I Love You Not

**Pairing(s):** Albus/Scorpius, but mentions of Albus and Scorpius with other partners.

**Summary:** Merlin! Not another Potter-Malfoy debacle! Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy battle each other in everything, including partners. Is their passion something more than can be seen on the surface?

**Rating:** NC-17 for sex.

**Warning(s):** Strong language [they're teenagers], underage sex, attempted rape.

**Word Count:** 12, 539

**Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Author's Notes:** I rewrote this twice. I like this version better.

* * *

Albus Severus Potter was once again trying to escape the grasp of another of what he liked to call 'clingers.' 'Clingers' were people he slept with who wanted to 'have something more'; wanted to be 'boyfriends.' Albus Severus Potter didn't do 'boyfriends.' He did 'fuckbuddy' and 'one-night stands;' 'Boyfriends' required attention and effort and… other mushy stuff he'd never admit to wanting. He pried the hands off his wrist and swung the closet door open.

"Albus, baby, please! You're _SO_ good, baby—"

"Shut it, Nottingham. If you wanted a boyfriend, you should have gone to someone like Graham Nott. Now stop clinging to me like the bloody plague and get the hell away from me!" he snapped, buttoning his shirt. Gavin Nottingham, the boy he'd just been with, looked seriously hurt, but Albus couldn't bring himself to care.

"Al…"

But Al was gone. He strutted down the hall looking like nothing had happened, leaving Gavin to clutch at his chest over his broken heart.

It was no secret that Albus Potter was gay, nor was it a secret that he liked to fuck. A lot. Most boys he got with were perfectly aware of his 'love and leave' policy. Some were not. It wasn't often that he attracted one who thought the line 'let's fuck' meant 'let's fuck and then go and make lots of gay babies and ride off into the sunset like a bloody Disney movie which are usually rip-offs of really good stories that they just add happy endings—'

…

_Anyhoo._

Albus had Charms, and NEWT-level Charms was tricky business. He re-knotted his Slytherin tie and pushed open the classroom door confidently, his eyes landing on the only other person that was there that early: Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, the bane of his existence.

Why, might you ask, was he the bane of little Albus Potter's existence? Quite simply, he just was. They'd rivaled each other in everything since the start of their first year: Quidditch, classes, fuck partners, looks. Since they were both Slytherin, only one could play Seeker, which was Scorpius. In classes it was Albus who was in the lead, and so far their fuck reputations were equal, as were their looks — gorgeous, obviously.

"Potter," Scorpius spat when Albus walked in. Albus sneered at him.

"Malfoy," he retorted right back. Professor Flitwick sighed, having been through this Malfoy-Potter dispute once in his lifetime, and was rather sick of it, thank you very bloody much, exeunt stage right.

"Now don't you two start!" he warned dangerously, wagging one sausagey finger at them.

"It started years ago," Scorpius muttered, scratching at his paper agitatedly with his quill. Albus scoffed.

"You—"

"ENOUGH!" Flitwick yelled just as the rest of the class seemed to flood in like a wall, effectively stopping that long-trodden argument.

* * *

"Why don't you two just fuck already?" Rose whined from the couch in the Ravenclaw common room, her sanctuary. "You're both hot and—"

"No, Rose!" Albus said exasperatedly. "I've told you a million times, _I do not want to fuck Malfoy!_ I'll be the first to admit that he's a hot piece of ass, but that's all he is. He insists on challenging me in absolutely everything, and then rubbing it in my face when he wins! Why would I want to fuck that?"

"Who started this whole Pot-Foy debacle, anyways?" Lily asked from where she was sitting next to Rose, filing her nails.

"Pot-Foy?" Albus said as if he couldn't believe his sister had come up with that. It gave him the mental image of a toilet filled with blond, toilet water-soaked hair. Ew. Why did he just think of that? He did it to himself.

"Yeah. It's like Potter and Mal—"

"Yeah, we got it, Lil'," Rose interrupted. "But honestly, who _DID_ start all this?"

"I don't even remember anymore!" Albus threw his hands in the air. "Probably in second year when we were trying out for Quidditch. We both tried out and he got Seeker, which in and of itself is fine, but he didn't have to throw it in my face." He sighed and scrubbed his face roughly.

"Yeah, well you didn't exactly play peacemaker throughout the years, Al," Rose said. Albus glared at her.

"You're not making me feel any better. Remind me again what you were trying to convince me of?"

"Fucking Scorpius. And letting me take pictures." Rose smiled innocently, something completely out of character for her personality. Albus rolled his eyes and stood up.

"I'm going back to Slytherin, but do try to practice. If whining is your weapon of choice, then I feel obligated to warn you that I have an LOL-shield that protects me from your womanly wiles," Albus said, shrugging at the end. World of Warcraft, a game him and Rose had gotten addicted to a few years back, had a class called 'Paladin' and they had an ability called 'Bubble Hearth,' which Albus called his LOL-shield. But Rose would pwn him, for Albus was a n00b in the ways of Ravenclaw wilyness.

Albus sighed and loosened his tie, stopping mid-step when he heard giggling, and then someone shushing them. His eyebrows came together in a typical Potter-y way, and he peeked around the corner, seeing a Slytherin girl he knew (whose name he forgot) and… Scorpius. It appeared that they were trying to suck the air from each other's lungs while maneuvering into the nearest closet. His fists clenched and his chest burned with the heat of a thousand-… well, you get it.

He purposely stomped in front of their door, a very good imitation of an elephant, hearing gasps and the movement inside the closet stop. He smirked and stomped all the way down the hall into the common room, starting to walk normally once he got inside his dorm.

Albus couldn't help the infinitely empty feeling he had in his gut. He felt horrible and… well, _EMPTY._ It wasn't the first time he'd seen Scorpius with one of his nightly contenders, but it seemed like it affected him more when they were girls. Unlike Scorpius, Albus was exclusive with guys. Scorpius, as the Muggles said, played for both teams. And, as the wizards said, he liked both wands and cauldrons.

He kicked his shoes off roughly and climbed into his bed, the one all the way at the end against the wall. He'd pushed it against the wall for a reason, which was so he could have privacy when he did his nightly 'activities.' And, after erecting a Silencing Charm, Albus reached under his bed…

…and pulled out a leather-bound notebook. He removed the hexes from the seal and turned to the next blank page, then fished his self-inking quill from his bedside table. Getting into a comfortable position, he started scratching against the paper.

November 10

_Don't want to let it lay me down this time._

_Drown my will to fly._

_Here in the darkness I know myself._

_Can't break free until I let it go._

_Let me go._

Most, if not all of Albus's poetry, was inspired by Scorpius, hence why most of his poetry was either angsty, depressing, angry, or any combination of the emotions mentioned above. Something about Scorpius's attitude sparked a fire in Albus that drove him, and he used the flames to further advance his artistic creations as opposed to, you know, kicking the wall or something else equally destructive. The journal was sometimes used as a diary, housing all his thoughts and emotions he knew he couldn't share with others; they'd think he was a sissy. He did have a reputation to uphold, after all. He sighed before stuffing the journal back under his bed.

"Twelve twenty-six AM," he read after looking at his Tempus watch. He undressed and put a baggy tee shirt and sweat pants on before crawling back into bed, ready to face another day… empty.

* * *

Scorpius quickly locked the door behind him and was immediately pounced on by his choice of the night, Ariana Goldfinch. All of the things he did to these men and women every night seemed so routine for him, so robotic. Every night it was the same: find partner, seduce them with dirty talk, sneak into nearest alcove or closet, fuck their brains out, leave. He used the same words on everyone, the same moves in bed — which were effing amazing, if he did say so himself. It was all the same… boring. Nothing was ever new and exciting.

Scorpius wasn't happy with his life, but he wasn't going to stop his promiscuous ways any time soon; he didn't know what he'd be if he weren't a slut. He wasn't book-smart, and was quite obviously not life-smart. The only thing he had was his cock and hot physique. He felt like a shell of a person — inhuman, even. He didn't even really find himself interested in sex much anymore, but it was so routine he had a hard time breaking the habit. The thing he'd been most interested in lately was getting Albus Potter's attention.

The only time Scorpius felt like he was alive was when he was verbally sparring with the Potter spawn. Just being in his presence made him want to do better, be better just so Albus would take note of it. He was what you might call an attention whore, but only whoring for Albus's attention. He'd purposely bump into him in the hallway so Albus would glare at him, making the blood run faster in the blond's veins, if only for a moment. It was like a drug.

And he would stop at nothing to get his daily dose of Albus.

* * *

Albus put a dollop of hair gel into his hand before scrubbing it all through his black hair, making it stick up at odd angles. His father, Harry Potter, had not mastered the technique of artfully messing up one's hair, and simply looked like a hobo. Albus, however, knew that it drove the boys crazy when you looked freshly shagged. So, after ruining his hair just right, he threw his book bag over his shoulder and exited his dorm.

"It's a good thing you're my cousin or I'd rape you," Rose said as Albus met up with her outside the Great Hall. He smirked.

"Why aren't you in Slytherin again?" Albus pushed the doors to the Hall open.

"Because I hide my perviness, while you Slytherins are perfectly fine with flaunting it."

"Ah, I thought it was because you were all celibate to save your precious minds from being defiled from hot, sweaty man-sex."

"We're Ravenclaws, not inhuman."

"Oh, so the rumor that all Ravenclaw girls stitch their vaginas closed isn't true?"

"Depends. Is the rumor that all Slytherins have weekly orgies true?"

"Hey, I might be a snake, but what happens in the House stays in the House." He winked. She rolled her eyes and went off to her own table.

'_Damn,'_ he thought, _all the spots are taken. 'Well, that's what you get for taking so long to get ready in the morning.'_ Technically there was one spot, but it was right across from the one and only Scorpius Malfoy. Like hell Albus was gonna sit across from pretty boy. He pointedly turned his back to Scorpius and marched to the Gryffindor table and sat next to… some boy he didn't know, but he'd _LIKE_ to.

"Hey, sexy. I'm Al."

* * *

Scorpius watched Albus walk in with Rose and his heart jumped. '_Yes! There's only one spot, and that's in front of me! I can— BASTARD! He went and sat down next to some other boy…'_ Scorpius's stomach sank and he suddenly became depressed, not hungry anymore.

Then it was time to go to first period. Scorpius smirked.

Albus was walking with the Gryffindor boy — Alexandré some'm-some'm — and not-so-subtly pinched his ass just as Scorpius came up and leaned in to whisper in Albus's ear, "Digging at the bottom of the barrel? My, my, why don't you just admit that I beat you in this game, too? It would make things much easier for you, and then you could finally—"

The first punch was thrown.

Then another.

Then another.

"Woah, Al, calm down!" James yelled, holding his younger, hotheaded brother under the arms, restraining his movement. Albus still flailed and kicked, kicking up so hard that all this weight was put on James, who couldn't hold it and collapsed backwards with Albus on top of him. "OOF!"

"Scorpius, calm yourself," Dakota Parkinson, Scorpius's best friend, said softly, petting his hair. Scorpius breathed deeply and eventually relaxed against Dakota's chest, who was gently cupping his upper arms to encourage him to stop fighting back, as opposed to James's method of grappling his younger brother in what looked to be a wrestling hold. Scorpius spat the blood out of his mouth and let Dakota steady him.

"What's happened?" Professor Flitwick asked, bustling over as fast as his little legs would carry him.

"He punched Scorpius, Professor!" someone yelled.

"Yeah, well Malfoy started it!" a Gryffindor said, defending Albus.

"ENOUGH!" the tiny professor yelled, stamping his (quite unimpressive) foot. "You and you, go to the headmaster NOW!"

"Come on, Rory," Dakota coaxed, guiding Scorpius with a hand on his lower back in the general direction of the headmaster's office. The young Malfoy had been kneed in the stomach, and Dakota was afraid he might fall over. He was also punched in the face twice, once in the eye and once on the mouth. Scorpius hadn't hit Albus at all, not one for physical violence.

"GET OFF ME!" James yelled, pushing Albus to the side. Albus winced and stood shakily, dusting himself off. He shot a glare at Flitwick, gave Rose a pointed look, and started towards the headmaster once he was sure the blond was well ahead of them. Rose, catching the emphatic look, went after him.

"Albus, you...! You…! You _IDIOT!_" she yelled, gesticulating wildly. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"He provoked me! He was asking for it!"

"That gives you no right! Now you've gotten yourself in trouble for no reason!"

"Alright, alright, I know! It wasn't one of my smarter moves—"

"Oh, yeah, and becoming an evil Dark Lord with hordes of Muggle-killing cronies wasn't one of Voldemort's smartest moves, either! Why do you let Malfoy get to you like this?"

"He DOESN'T... get to me…" he trailed off, realizing that saying that would be completely hypocritical; Malfoy was _OBVIOUSLY_ getting under his skin, else this wouldn't have happened. Why was it that with only a few choice words Scorpius had the power to anger him so? '_Does he really have that much control over me…?'_

"That will be all, Miss Weasley," Flitwick said stiffly, walking up after them. She glared at Albus once more before going back to the Great Hall. Flitwick pointed to the staircase, which was spiraling upwards with Scorpius on the top step with Dakota.

"Wait, Malfoy gets to take HIS—!"

"Mister Malfoy is unstable and it would be unwise to have him stand on his own. In!" he ordered with a sharp point towards the office. Albus sighed and stepped on.

* * *

Albus left the headmaster's office red-faced and pissed off, having just gotten three weeks of detention, which consisted of having to go to the various suits of armor, trophy cases, and paintings to dust, polish, and all-around clean. Scorpius didn't get anything but an admonishment for 'stirring the pot.'

Albus, having taken his poetry journal with him, fished it out of his bag and sat down against a wall near the entrance hall, writing furiously.

_I'm riding on the back of this pressure_

_Guessing that it's better I can't keep myself together,_

_Because all of this stress gave me something to write on_

_The pain gave me something I could set my sights on_

_Never forget the blood, sweat and tears_

_The uphill struggle over years, the fear and_

_Trash talking and the people it was to_

_And the people that started it just like you._

"Mister Potter, perhaps it would be better for you to go to your dormitory and cool down there," Headmaster Charleston suggested, pointing in the general direction of the Slytherin Dungeons. Albus sneered and closed his journal, stuffing it back in his bag…

That was too stuffed to hold it…

And it fell out…

"Dakota, I'm fine now! I don't need you to baby me!" Scorpius insisted, pushing his friend's hand away from him.

"Are you sure?" Dakota asked worriedly, eyeing him as if he could see the internal damage done to Scorpius's stomach. The blond sighed heavily.

"Yes, Koti, I'm fine. Now go back to Ravenclaw before you get in trouble, too." Scorpius smiled tiredly at his friend before turning on his heel and walking away…

And heard something hit the floor. He arched an eyebrow interestedly and looked down the hall, seeing a journal, left un-spell-locked…

…Which he proceeded to pick up and eye curiously. He shrugged and tucked it inside his bag, where it stayed with him up to his dorm. He collapsed onto his silk sheets (of course they were silk; he was a Malfoy, after all) and kicked off his Italian leather shoes, relaxing against the headboard of his bed. He nosily opened up the thick, leather-bound journal and looked at the first page.

_Property of A.S.P. _

_Do not read._

Scorpius smirked. '_And who's gonna stop me?'_ he thought deviously, reading the first entry.

'_Wow, this ASP person has a lot of anger. Wait… this one is so passionate. Hm. How interesting. Ooh, more anger. Someone needs a bloody Calming Draught.' _

It was near one AM when he'd finished reading the entire journal, still wondering what caused this person to be so angry and impassioned. It made Scorpius want to meet him. Not only did the journal have poetry, but it had short stories, diary entries (though they were practically anonymous; not even a gender was mentioned, much less a name), and little sketches done throughout.

He found one drawing he particular he liked: An eye. It was fairly sketchy looking, but really pretty. It had long eyelashes, big light shine, and large pupils.

He _DEFINITELY_ wanted to meet this ASP person.

* * *

"HE'S SO STUBBORN!" Lily shrieked, slamming her spiral journal on the coffee table where Rose was doing her homework, making her jump. "Why won't Albus just get the hell over this rivalry with Malfoy and fu—"

"Lily Potter!" Rose interrupted.

"What? You're thinking it, too!" she accused, dropping next to Rose on the couch. "Scorpius is hot, and Albus is gay! I don't see what the big deal is!"

"They're boys, Lil'. We will never understand them," Rose mumbled, angrily turning the next page of her Herbology book.

"It's still stupid. Albus got in major trouble because he can't hold his freakin' anger in! If they just got rid of all this tension, then wouldn't it benefit both of them?" Lily proposed, now off the couch and pacing. Rose got a thoughtful look in her eye.

"You know, Lily, you're right. Maybe we should…" Rose trailed off, knowing Lily was thinking the same thing she was. Their smirks matched.

* * *

Rose looked in a hand mirror, fluffing her hair on the sides and smushing her lips together, spreading the pink lip-gloss around a little. She looked up and saw Scorpius coming towards her, and promptly snapped the mirror shut, stuffing it in her butt pocket. When he was close enough, Rose lunged for him and pushed him up against the wall, bringing her face close to his shocked one.

"W-Weasley?"

"Call me Rose, Scorpius," she breathed in what she hoped was a sexy voice, her knee between Scorpius's thighs. "I want you," she said simply. He smirked.

"You've come to the right place, Rose," he said in a seductive voice, putting his hands on her hips. She wanted to barf at the gesture, ashamed of herself for acting in such a way, but stroked a hand down his chest anyways. "Want to take this elsewhere?"

"Oh, Gods, yes!" she enthused, squeaking a little so she sounded hot and bothered when she was really bothered and repulsed. He tugged her arm into the nearest closet (as per usual) and pushed her up against the shut door.

"Oh, dear!" Rose said, fanning herself. "I forgot the restraints — be right back! Wait for me, hot stuff!" she called as she exited the closet, leaving Scorpius blinking stupidly.

_Meanwhile…_

"Hey, Potter."

Albus jumped and swung around, seeing Kennedy Thomas standing there, tall, black, and gorgeous. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top and his tie was undone, his ebony skin looking delectable underneath the bindings of the white shirt…

"Hey. Is there a reason you're coming up to me looking so sexy?" Albus purred, taking a step forward and touching the oh-so-soft skin of his chest. Kennedy moaned and ground his hips into Albus's, not bothering with all the flirtatious stuff he was sure Rose had pulled.

"I'm so hot for you, Al," he breathed, mouthing Albus's pale neck against the fluttering pulse. Albus made a throaty growling sound and tangled his hands in the coarse, curly black hair. "Fuck me, please…"

"Yes…" Albus said huskily, shoving his tongue into the other's mouth. Kennedy somehow managed to get them down the hall (without tripping them) until they were in front of a closet. They broke apart and breathed heavily, and Albus reached behind him to open the closet door, which he was unceremoniously pushed through the instant it was open.

"Wha—!"

SLAM.

"Hey!" Albus yelled, banging his fists on the spell-locked door. "Lemme—!"

"Potter!" Scorpius yelled incredulously, pressing himself up against the furthest corner of the closet, which wasn't very far. Maybe three feet, give or take. It wasn't nearly far enough away from Albus, though, damnit!

"Malfoy?" he said predictably. "What the bloody hell are you doing in here?"

"I was just about to shag your cousin, but she left and then came back with you!" he countered with a smirk, expecting an explosion. The Potter made an odd choking sound.

"ROSE! You were gonna shag ROSE?" Then Albus started laughing.

"What the hell is so bloody funny?" Scorpius said, offended, and a little downhearted that his zing didn't affect Albus. "You saying there's no way your cousin could want me?"

"Yes! That's exactly what I'm saying! You're a whore! Rose thinks sluts are at the bottom of the Ravenclaw spectrum for respect!"

"Hey, you have no place to talk, Potter. You're just as much of a whore as I am."

"Didn't say I wasn't." Albus sniffed.

"What, so your own cousin doesn't respect you?" Scorpius's question was a hint softer than his previous rampage.

"Course she doesn't. I sleep around. She still loves me, though. Doesn't your family still love you?"

Scorpius shrugged. In sooth, his family didn't know; he wasn't sure how they'd react, but he knew it wouldn't be pleasant. To get his mind off that track, the blond extracted his wand and cast a Lumos.

"Ah, light." Albus squinted and covered his eyes for a second before adjusting.

"Well, since I'm missing breakfast to be locked in a closet with you, I'm going to eat." He opened his bag and reached for his emergency food stash (which was usually consumed during History of Magic): A cold sandwich and a pumpkin juice box.

Albus shrugged. "Whatever. Just as long as— HEY!" He pointed dramatically to Scorpius's personal effects, which included his poetry journal. "Wha-what's that doing there!"

"Oh, this? I found it." Scorpius pulled the journal out and examined it before it was snatched by Albus. "Whoa, what's your deal?"

"Where did you find this?" he asked shakily.

"In the hallway," Scorpius said slowly, watching Albus's face drain of all color.

"Did—" Albus swallowed. "Did you read it?"

Scorpius narrowed his eyes suspiciously and nodded. Albus could have died. He wanted a rampaging hippogriff to invade the closet and eat him. Seriously. No, seriously.

"This is none of your business!" he eventually yelled, holding the journal up emphatically, making Scorpius jump.

"Jeez, what's your problem?" Scorpius held his hands up in surrender.

"This journal is private and you just go on and read it!" Albus ran a hand through his hair and growled.

"Not private to me. If it's out in the open for anyone to just come and pick up, how is that private?"

"Well, maybe they dropped it! You should have turned it in to the headmaster!"

"And have him read it? Believe me, you wouldn't want the headmaster to read what was written in there," Scorpius scoffed, chuckling at his own joke. Albus grumbled and opened to the first page, pointing at the spot that said, 'Do not read.'

"DO. NOT. READ. Can't you read!" Albus stuffed the journal in his own bag harshly and sat against the door, his head in his hands. 'Hellfire and brimstone. I hate life, I hate life, I hate life…'

"I can't see why this is such a big deal for you! Hey, are you going to turn that in to the headmaster?" he asked incredulously. "Of course not. You're gonna take it back to your dorm, close the curtains, and—"

"I would never do that," Albus said softly, lifting his head. "I'd never take and read someone else's diary just because I could."

"Oh, well, then what do you plan on doing with it, huh?" Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"I plan on writing in it."

Scorpius blinked. Then again. Then again. Nope. Still didn't make sense.

"It's not very often that I admit I'm confused, but… I'm confused. Explain." Scorpius put his fingers to his chin. Then his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes widened, thinking again about that acronym: 'ASP.' '_It couldn't be…'_ He looked up at Albus and pointed at him. "You—"

Albus sighed. "Yes, me!" he roared. "A is Albus, S is Severus, and P is Potter. You read my damn journal!" He banged his head against the wall, hoping that he could knock himself out, get amnesia, then forget this happened. That the one person in the world he didn't want knowing his secrets knew, and that he would probably be blackmailed and ridiculed for them. No, seriously.

"My God," Scorpius breathed, completely taken off guard, and feeling rather stupid for not figuring it out sooner. "I—… you wrote that?"

"Yes, I wrote it, damnit! I couldn't exactly tell someone these things, now, could I?"

Scorpius didn't know what to say. He was a tad surprised (and if by tad you mean really, completely, utterly surprised, then yes) that it was Albus's journal, but found himself not really bothered by it.

"Go on," Albus said miserably, "tell everyone that Albus Potter writes depressing, girly poetry and draws flowers." Yeah, he was feeling sorry for himself. If he didn't, no one else would. The urge to threaten Scorpius with death by a Tickling Charm up the ass was tempting, but at that moment he could only feel humiliated.

Scorpius sighed and sat down heavily. "I'm not telling anyone, Potter," he said softly. Albus looked up.

"You're not?" Scorpius shook his head. "Why not? This is the perfect opportunity to spread dirt about me. Letting that chance go? How unbefitting of a Slytherin." Albus was slightly surprised.

"Because I don't get anything out of it, and neither do you. It's a bad deal." Scorpius shrugged. Of course he was bending the truth a bit; he wouldn't admit that it was because he knew his conscience would be stabbing him with a spork if he told. After all, he wouldn't want anyone to read HIS diary, not that he had one. "Believe it or not, my entire world doesn't revolve around humiliating you. It's just a perk."

"Cheeky shit," Albus said, only halfway scornfully. "So you're not gonna tell?"

"Nope. Not gonna tell."

Albus colored slightly. Sighing and pulling his hair, he mumbled, "Thanks," into his hands.

"Oh, what? What was that, Potter?" Scorpius mocked, cupping his ear with his hand and leaning forward. Albus growled at him.

"Thanks! There, I fucking said it. Now shut up!" Albus kicked him lightly as opposed to trying to inflict pain.

"Awww, is Albie-Walbie embarrassed?" Scorpius cooed, reaching over to pinch Albus's cheek. Albus smacked his hand away and snorted.

"I'm fine!"

Albus was rather enjoying the friendly interaction with Scorpius instead of bickering and shouting at each other. How odd. He looked at Scorpius, realizing this. '_Why am I being nice to him? I don't like him. He's an ass.'_

"What?" Scorpius said, bringing a hand to his face. "Is there something on my face?"

Albus shook his head. "No, I was just thinking." He tried to add some poison into the comment, but found he had to try reeeeeally hard to get there, and then it didn't even sound right. He sounded like a child throwing a tantrum. Albus knew, because Scorpius tried to cover his laughing by 'coughing' into his arm.

"I'm sorry, but you'd laugh too if you were listening to yourself," Scorpius defended, setting his wand on the ground. "It's like you're _TRYING_ to be mad at me."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Albus mumbled. "I'm trying to keep my grudge, but it's not working so well, ACTUALLY."

"You are?"

"Yeah! You annoy the crap out of me, only now you're not for some reason." Albus had once again confused himself. "But being nice this one time doesn't mean we're friends or anything. I still don't like you."

"Alright," Scorpius conceded, "then let's talk." Albus arched an eyebrow. "Why do you act so messed up towards me?"

"You're a know-it-all, arrogant, pretty boy braggart!" He was a little sore on the subject.

"Well, you're a competitive, immature, stubborn ass." Scorpius shrugged. "Why do you try to do better than me at everything?"

"Wha—" Albus choked. "_YOU_ always try to be better than _ME!_ In second year when I said I was going out for Seeker, the only reason you were gonna try out too was because I was!"

"I thought it was the other way around," Scorpius said softly, looking down. "So… who did it first?"

"I-I'm not sure," Albus realized, looking up. "But it seems like it just escalated from there. You beat me, and I had to kick your ass at _SOMETHING._"

"Well, I could never write poetry and draw pictures and stuff." Scorpius gestured to Albus's bag. "I don't have a way with words at all." Why was he trying to make Albus feel better? He'd never seen insecure-unsure-confused Albus before, and it was slightly offsetting. He just wanted things to be normal again. Well, whatever 'normal' was. 'Normal' probably meant hating each other again, but after having this somewhat pleasant interaction with Albus, he noticed how physically taxing being actively hateful towards the other was.

Albus was so caught up in their interaction he didn't even catch the compliment. "I don't write because I want to write poetry. I just write what I'm thinking in a smoother way." Albus shrugged. "It lets me see things clearer. It's my way of venting, I guess."

"Well, you've got a lot of anger in that venting of yours," Scorpius teased him. "I don't try to be a braggart. I don't get much attention at home; I don't mean to sound like a dumb teenager, but I don't. School is the only place I'm recognized."

Albus gazed at Scorpius in a slightly different light that had nothing to do with the position of the wand glow as Scorpius took it off the floor.

"So, you have your reasons, and I have mine," Albus stated.

"I don't think our reasons are very…" Scorpius trailed off, gesturing vaguely.

"Yeah." Albus chuckled. "Now it seems sort of… stupid."

"Well I, for one, am not stupid."

"Well, me, neither." Albus turned his nose up. "I still don't like you."

"I still don't like you, either." Scorpius picked up his wand.

"Okay, then." Albus didn't know what to say next. "I'm not giving you a hug if that's what you're waiting for."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Potter," Scorpius snorted, taking a sandwich out of his bag that was wrapped in spell-o-wrap. There was a click, and then light invaded the closet as the door was opened.

"Have you two had sex yet?" Rose inquired. Albus shook his head in time with Scorpius. "Damnit!"

* * *

Albus, sour-faced and heavy-lidded, dragged his feet through the halls, feeling like two midgets were clinging to his shins simply to impede his quest to get to the Slytherin dorm by dawn. He was just coming back from one of his detentions, where he had to scrub the entirety of the Ravenclaw trophy cabinet by hand. His arms burned from over-exertion, and his back hurt from bending over at an odd angle for so long, and he just wanted to flop into bed without a second thought.

Well, that's what he _WANTED_ to do.

"Albus Potter."

Albus whipped around, almost throwing his tired body off balance. Gavin Nottingham was standing there looking threatening, tapping his wand in the palm of his hand rhythmically in a perfect impression of a mafia boss. He was smirking evilly.

"Oh, hey, Nottingham. Look, I can't fuck tonight; I'm completely buggered and I'm off to bed. Proposition me tomorrow, though," he said dismissively, waving Gavin off and turning slowly around, but not for long. Gavin advanced on his retreating form and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him around and pushing him off balance. Albus crumbled to the floor with a groan.

"What the fuck, Nottingham?" he snapped tiredly, rubbing his butt where he'd fallen. Looking up at the muscled visage of the Ravenclaw, Albus felt rather intimidated. Sure, Albus always topped, even when the men were twice his size (like Gavin), but that didn't mean that they weren't menacing-looking otherwise; and the fact that Gavin was captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team didn't help, either.

"You know what? Tomorrow doesn't work for me, actually," Gavin said fake-thoughtfully, tapping his chin. "Right now seems good, though." He pulled Albus up by his collar and pushed him against the wall, the Slytherin's skull colliding with the solid stone painfully. His vision blurred for a moment before refocusing again.

"You better let me go, Nottingham, I mean it."

"Oh, and what is little Albus Potter going to do with his spindly little arms? Give me a chest massage? Go right ahead, doesn't bother me." Gavin smirked, and Albus panicked. His wand was in his bag, which had been knocked off his shoulder in the fall.

"Let me go!" Albus roared, pushing against Gavin's chest as hard as he could and lifting his knees to put some distance between their pelvic areas. A sense of dread filled Albus at what was going to come, and he felt like crying, but knew it would only make Gavin laugh instead of making him merciful.

"_Incarcerous!"_ His hands were pinned over his head and bound, and Albus didn't think his heart could beat any faster. A frightened tear started rolling down his cheek. "Time for the fun!"

The words 'stop, don't,' and 'let me go' didn't faze Gavin as he one-handedly stripped Albus's lower clothing off, his shirt merely ripped open. He roughly pinched Albus's nipples and kneaded his crotch brutally. Albus couldn't stop the sob of pain that wracked body as a finger was shoved into him dry; he kicked and flailed and screamed but it didn't do any good; not even the portraits could hear him down there. Gavin was just too strong for him.

"_Stupefy!"_

Albus fell like a sack of flobberworms to the floor, eyes too bleary with tears to look at who saved him. He was grateful when said person knelt in front of him and started undoing his bindings. His wrists had rope burn, but that was to be expected, and his bits felt bruised. He wiped his eyes with his free hands and blinked his vision back to see Scorpius and Rose bustling about him, and he was suddenly aware of his nakedness. He groaned and pulled his discarded pants to his crotch for a little privacy, but they were ripped away by Scorpius.

"I'm not ogling your package, Potter, I'm checking it."

"Not in front'a Rose…" he slurred, feeling something drip down his head, neck, then his back from the crown of his head.

"Don't be shy, Albus, we're trying to help you," she said before swearing. "Shit! His head is bleeding!" There was a cloth of some sort mopping up the blood down his back and his neck.

"Oh, hell," Scorpius muttered. "Well, you're black and blue in the crotch area, and you've cracked your head open. I do believe we need to get you to the nurse."

"No… don't wan' 'er ta see me starkers." Albus was finding it increasingly difficult to stay conscious.

"Stay awake!" Scorpius demanded sharply.

"'M tired…"

He closed his eyes and felt Scorpius heave him into his arms, and felt the bouncing up and down as he ran at top speed to… wherever.

"Madam Helluin!"

"Oh!" The nurse jumped slightly. "Mr. Malfoy, what on Earth is wrong with that boy?"

Blood from Albus's skull had stained Scorpius's shirtsleeve red, and he had covered his naked man parts with his boxer shorts.

"He's been attacked… well, you know, and he's in really bad shape," Scorpius explained, trying not to sound too brusque. Her near-invisible eyebrows shot up.

"Oh, my! Put him on a bed, boy, put him down, put him down. That's right, okay, I'll need some—oh, Albus, please stay with us! I'll need your cooperation!" she said hurriedly, grabbing her wand and a small tub of salve. She apologized softly before removing the boxers covering Albus's battered bits. "Oh, dear," she whispered, opening the jar. She was about to delve her fingers into it when she hesitated after hearing Albus whimper in mortification. "Mr. Malf—Scorpius, dear, would it perhaps be better if you were to apply this?" Albus was too out of it to do it himself, and she was, well, old.

"Yeah, probably," he agreed, sitting on the edge of Albus's bed and taking the salve from Madam Helluin. "I'll be doing this, Potter, so never fear; a woman won't be touching your bits." The nurse cast a light Numbing Charm to make the application less of a painful shock before giving them some privacy.

Scorpius dipped his fingers into the butter yellow, soft substance and took a deep breath before lightly slicking it over Albus's shaft. Albus was abruptly at full consciousness, not having been really listening to what they were saying, and forced himself to look down at the blond's blushing face while he smeared the healing salve over the bruised area gently. He slapped himself mentally and dug his fingernails into his palms, trying not to get turned on by Scorpius's ministrations. '_It's just a medical procedure, nothing sexual! Stop getting excited!'_ But Albus's prick wasn't listening. As he started to get hard, Scorpius pulled his hand away, finished. When Madam Helluin came back over, his semi-erection mercifully died.

"Albus, tell me exactly what happened," she demanded as she worked on his head injury.

Albus rehashed the entire tale blearily, up to where Scorpius came in and how they got there. She was nodding along and poking him every so often, to which he'd wince or whimper. She brushed her hands on her robe before speaking.

"So, Mister Nottingham only got a finger in? Nothing… else?" He could tell she was trying to ask lightly, and he shook his head.

"No, just his finger. How's my head?" He yearned so badly for sleep, but he wanted to make sure he wasn't going to bleed to death or something.

"Well, your skull isn't cracked, but you did get a bit of a concussion. You'll have a lump on your head for a few weeks, but it's closed and you'll be fine. You might still have dizzy spells, so I want you to stay here for the night," she finished adamantly, patting his knee.

"Yes, ma'am," he conceded, too tired to fight her on it. "I'm sleepy, so I think I'll just turn in." He yawned to get his point across.

"Mister Potter, shouldn't you be thanking your savior?" Madam Helluin said pointedly, patting Scorpius's blond head. Scorpius smiled smugly.

"Oh, yes, Potter. Do let me hear your gratitude of how I saved you from certain—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you very much, goodbye!" He flipped over, jarring his slowly healing crotch slightly in his haste. He winced, trying to ignore Scorpius's chuckling and distant footfalls.

"You're welcome very much," he called over his shoulder with a smile in his voice. And then he was gone, and Albus felt a little… hollow.

* * *

'_Oi, what's wrong with me?'_ Al thought miserably the next morning. '_First I get hard from Malfoy touching me, and then I feel annoyingly bereft when he leaves! This head injury is affecting me more than I thought.'_ Albus finished rubbing in the healing salve, being able to do it himself since he was no longer half-conscious, and started getting redressed when he heard the door to the infirmary open. He looked up as he was zipping his pants and felt his heart jump when he saw Scorpius carrying his book bag.

"Thought you might want this," he said somewhat shyly, dropping the bag onto the chair in front of his bed. Albus tried to smile, but he could tell his muscles were twitching with the effort.

"Yeah, thanks for bringing it back to me. What's happening with Nottingham?" he asked, pulling his shoes on.

"Well, he's been suspended for life and charged with sexual assault," Scorpius informed, proud of himself.

"Seriously? No way!" Albus was surprised. Usually the school just reprimanded children for bad deeds and then sent them back to their dorms with detention, but never had he heard of someone getting expelled for life. "Malfoy?"

"Mhm?"

"Why did you, you know… save me?" he said meekly, one of Albus's less-visited emotions.

"Because Nottingham was assaulting you; I couldn't just turn away and not expect to feel horribly guilty later." Scorpius was surprised that Albus asked. It seemed obvious to him. Sure, he was a bit of a bully sometimes, but he didn't wish violation upon him. "I knew where that situation was headed, and I don't think you deserve that. No one does." His voice was softer towards the end.

"…Thanks," he finally said sincerely, looking up at Scorpius through insanely thick, butterfly wing-like eyelashes. Scorpius felt himself blush, and quickly looked away.

"Yeah, well, there's a party tonight if you're interested, Potter," he said, rushing while he stood and fixed his hair. He gave a tight smile before marching out of the infirmary. Albus arched an eyebrow at his speedy escape, but shrugged and slung his bag over his shoulder and headed out anyways. It was probably nothing.

* * *

"It's in the Shrieking Shack!" Albus screeched after dinner, his mouth open comically.

"Yep," Lily confirmed. "It's going to be amazing! No teachers, but we'll have to be sneaky about it." She nodded. Albus scoffed.

"Yeah, well I have the Invisibility Cloak, so I'll have no trouble sneaking out," he said smugly.

She giggled before finishing fluffing her hair. "Do I look okay?"

Albus took in her appearance; she was wearing a fishnet top with a black tank top over it, and a denim jacket over that. On her hips was a low-slung leather skirt with more fishnet, but in the form of leggings, leading down to her boot-clad feet. Quite frankly, she looked easy. Especially with the black eyeliner, super thick mascara, red lipstick, and blonde streaks in her red hair. And he told her so.

"Oh, shut up! You don't look any less cheap with your skin-tight tee shirt and leather pants! Are you even wearing undies?" she asked accusatorily.

"Don't ask, don't tell," Albus said with a smirk, smoothing his shirt down. Lily rolled her eyes before marching out of the common room with Albus in tow, though he was planning on fetching his Cloak from the Slytherin dorms before he left.

"I'll meet you there," he said, waving to her as he turned in the opposite direction and jogged all the way to Slytherin. He smiled coyly as he thought of the others struggling to get past the professors and prefects, while he had an easy out.

He made it safely outside the school when he saw none other than Scorpius Malfoy having problems getting around the tree without getting thwacked with homicidal branches. Albus felt his heart do that jumpy thing again that made his stomach want to barf and do the happy dance at the same time. He ran up behind Scorpius and tapped his shoulder.

"Holy shit!" Scorpius yelled, waving his arm behind him to find whatever tapped him. Albus giggled insanely and lifted the hood of his Cloak and smiled at him. "Potter, you scared the ever loving shit out of me!"

"Pardon me," he muttered, "but it appears you're having trouble." Albus pulled out his wand. _"Wingardium Leviosa!"_ he said at a medium-sized twig. It hovered in midair, and Albus guided it carefully to the knot on the tree and pressed against it with the end of the stick. The tree stopped flailing and stilled, calm. Scorpius was mentally face-palming himself. '_Why didn't I think of that?'_

"You ready to party?"

The party was in full swing when Albus and Scorpius entered, brushing their knees off and gazing at the transformation the room took, Albus's Cloak safely in his bag. Sure, it was still rickety and ugly, but there were streamers and balloons and tables full of food and drinks, and someone had their WWN on loudly, as the techno beat was pounding through the small shack.

"Albus, you made it!" Kennedy Thomas slurred, obviously having had more than his share of alcohol, if the stumbling and flopping into Albus's arms were any signs. "Gimme a smoochie." He puckered his lips and made kissing noises at Albus, who pushed him away.

"Honestly, Ken, have some dignity," he said with a disgusted air about him. Scorpius giggled and headed for the food, seeming to take a liking to the snack mix. Albus watched him for what seemed like forever. He noticed Scorpius hen-pecked at the food on his paper plate as opposed to Kennedy, who ate handfuls at a time. He sipped at a butterbeer as Scorpius came close to finishing what was on his plate, his mouth obviously salty and in need of hydration. Albus's mouth started to water unconsciously.

"Oh, Albus!" He turned to see Rose coming towards him holding a butterbeer. "Glad to see you here! Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Albus said vaguely as he watched Scorpius bend over to pick up his bottle cap that he dropped, giving him the money shot. His eyes darted back to Rose. "How about you? Where've you been?"

Rose blushed. "With, um… I've been talking with Prince, actually."

"Princeton Smith? Are you two gonna hook up?" Albus wolf whistled.

"No!" she protested, shoving Albus back slightly. He giggled and shook his head. "We were just discussing… things."

"Oh, yeah, _THINGS,_ gotcha." He winked. Rose rolled her eyes and smiled, opening her mouth to say more when Kennedy interrupted her.

"Oi, everyone! It's time for party games!" Everyone cheered. "What'll it be?"

"Truth or dare!" someone called.

"No, strip poker!" Rose yelled with a giggle.

"How about 'I never'?" James Potter suggested, and everyone made agreeing noises. "Okay, everyone gather round." It seemed James was going to run the shindig since Kennedy was too smashed to remember that he was black, not a 'pretty pink princess' as he was calling himself at the moment. "Rose, bring the shots!"

"Righto," she said with a salute, skittering off get the vodka and shot glasses.

"Okay, mates, how you play is you say something you _have_ done, only putting, 'I never,' in front of it, and whoever has done that takes a shot! So, like, I could say, 'I never wanked,' and anyone who's ever wanked takes a shot. Easy enough, yeah?" They all nodded, some of who were rolling their eyes because they already knew how to play. "Good! I'll go first." He cleared his throat. "I never looked down a professor's shirt."

After Rose finished setting everyone up with a shot glass and a small bottle of vodka, a couple of people drank. Gasps and gags could be heard as people rejected the taste of the straight alcohol, but eventually got over it. Scorpius threw his plate and bottle away before going and taking a spot in the circle across from Albus, whose heart wouldn't stop doing that annoying flippy thing, damnit!

"Guess that makes it my turn," Alora Longbottom said nervously, toying with her shot glass. "I never… did something solely to disobey my parents." The whole circle took a shot at that. Then it was Graham Nott's turn.

"I never fucked drunk, and then woke up next to someone I didn't know, and didn't know where the hell I was."

Scorpius and Albus chuckled in unison before downing their shots. Their eyes met and a spark seemed to shoot out of Albus's pupils into Scorpius's. That, or it was just the alcohol making their pupils blow. Whatever. It was still an intense feeling, nonetheless, making Albus's blood pump through his veins, making him want to do better. Better than everyone else, and better than Scorpius… _NO,_ he wasn't going to admit it was because he had some weird mental goal of impressing Scorpius — not even to himself.

"I never lied to get ahead," Lily said, breaking Albus's passionate reverie. More people drank, including Albus and Scorpius, who refused to break eye contact no matter what. Albus's vision was getting a little fuzzy, but he refused to look away and admit defeat.

"I never masturbated in a place I probably shouldn't have been," said… someone, but Albus wasn't paying attention, and just blindly threw back his shot in tandem with Scorpius.

"I, uh…" Had Albus been paying attention he would have noted it was Rose who was speaking. "I never pierced or altered my body in some fashion!"

Scorpius drank with a smirk, the only other person who did besides Albus, who didn't comprehend what Rose had said before he'd already done the deed, everyone looking at him expectantly. '_Shit.'_

"What? Show us, Scorp!" a Slytherin called, whistling. Scorpius heaved a fake sigh before sitting up on his knees and lifting his shirt, revealing a silver navel ring with a scorpion pendant. Albus refused to admit to himself (something that seemed to be happening more often) that he thought it looked absolutely adorable on his flat little tummy. Everyone ooh'ed and ahh'ed, only fueling Scorpius's ego. He did a little gyrate with his hips before lowering his shirt again, then everyone turned to Albus, expecting him to show his alleged piercing or other body alteration. He coughed.

"I, uh… I pass," he said awkwardly, wincing a little. It sounded completely lame, but everyone let it go, too intoxicated to care, really. His eyes once again met deep grey, so bright and majestic, yet so mischievous…

"Albus!" Rose whispered loudly. Albus didn't hear her. He just drank another shot, Scorpius doing the same. The circle of people was looking at them oddly. So, they just skipped Albus and went onto another person, a Hufflepuff.

"I never used potions to make my boobs bigger!" she declared proudly. Albus and Scorpius drank anyways, their staring contest never ending.

"I never shaved my entire body."

They drank.

"I never used a synthetic masturbating device."

They didn't even notice their bottles were running low on vodka as they drank another shot. Scorpius felt a wee bit ill, but ignored it. The only thing important at the moment was beating Albus, getting his attention…

"I never crapped in someone else's shampoo bottle."

Amidst the snickers, the duo still drank, their personal bottles emptying. Rose quickly ran and replaced them, only smacking into one wall on the way.

"I never stuffed my bra!"

Albus and Scorpius's drinking competition was now recognized by everyone, and they were just randomly yelling, 'I nevers,' watching as the boys got more and more hammered.

"I never glued hair to my underarms to make myself seem older!"

"I never humped my pillow!"

"I never stuck vegetables in my ass!"

And it went on and on for only a few minutes more until they saw Albus point his finger dramatically at Scorpius.

"Give id' up, Malfloyd!" he slurred. "You'll neva' beat meeee."

"Schtuff it, Potta'," Scorpius slurred back. "You could neva' beat me in'na kajillion yearsh!" The room was laughing at their drunken speech.

"I could, too!" he protested.

"Juscht admit et, Potta', you've been Mal-foiled!" He pointed back just as dramatically, throwing his inebriated balance off and causing him to crash onto his front. "Ugh."

"I'mma beat da shhhit outta you!" Albus rose to his knees and crawled over, swaying, but never falling over, and flipped Scorpius over. He punched at him, but missed and hit the wooden floor beneath. "Ousch!"

"Dumbaschh! This ish how ya duit!" He pushed Albus up shakily and threw a punch at him, which he missed and went over the other's shoulder and toppled them over, Scorpius landing on top of him.

"Mmmmreh." Albus tried to push him off, but it didn't work. Scorpius just seemed to notice their close proximity, and the fact that his cock was pressed against Albus's thigh.

"You're warm…" the dark-haired boy muttered, putting his arms around Scorpius, not aware of who he was embracing so gently in his intoxicated state.

"Mmmm… cuddly," the blond said contentedly, rolling them on their sides to face each other. The occupants of the room were gawking at them, wondering how they transitioned so quickly from trying to shank each other to, well… being Hufflepuffs.

"Nice neck…" Albus petted Scorpius neck. "Makesh me wanna bite it."

"Ooh, kinky." Scorpius giggled, not unlike a twelve-year-old girl. Albus licked his lips before literally biting Scorpius's pale throat, eliciting a moan. He continued to nibble at the lovely column of flesh until he came to Scorpius's ear, taking the lobe in his mouth. He pulled at it, letting it slowly scrape between his teeth, making Scorpius squirm deliciously, hardening Albus's cock.

"Wanna fuck you," Albus groaned, throwing his leg over Scorpius's waist.

"But there'sh peoples around!" Scorpius protested cutely, or at least drunk-Albus found it cute. Normally he'd find it whiny, but now everything Scorpius did was right. His pouty lips were right, his messed-up hair was right, his hard dick was right… oh, so right…

"Can't fuck in front of da peoples!" he whispered, repeating himself. "But we can go to ano-anothar part of tha room!" He was giggling now. Albus squealed and pushed himself up, pulling Scorpius with him. Together they stumbled up a staircase and into another room, slamming the door on everyone else.

"Holy shit!" Rose and Lily exclaimed together.

"Thish room shucks!" Scorpius whined, gazing around the dank area. It smelled of disuse and dust, but Albus couldn't care less.

"Dun' mattah!" He pointed to a corner where a pile of ripped-up clothes was. "Look! A comfy rag pile! Go, go, go!" He prodded Scorpius's back, encouraging him to move over there. The blond groaned, but complied anyhow, collapsing against the rag pile, which was surprisingly comfy. Albus dropped onto his knees, straddling Scorpius's hips and looking down at him dominatingly.

"Ya look so hot, Sc-Scworpiiii!" He was having trouble pronouncing Malfoy's first name, so just stuck with 'hot stuff' and 'sexy' (or 'hawt schtuff' and 'shexy' as it were). "Ya ready for mah thick, hard cock?" Albus snickered at himself, finding the word 'cock' to be very amusing.

"Wha'chu talkin' 'bout, Albusch?" Scorpius was having the same problem. "I'M on top!" he declared proudly.

"Nu-uh! You're pretty like a girl! Girlsh on da bottom!" Then all further speech was abandoned as Albus leaned over and claimed those lips in the name of Potter. The same feeling Albus got when he and Scorpius had a quarrel sparked inside him; it was the same feeling, only channeled a different way. The little spark of… what? Passion? Infatuation? Whatever it was, it exploded in his gut, making a mushroom cloud to his chest, and eventually lighting his whole body on proverbial fire.

"Ya face ish all red," Scorpius pointed out dumbly, patting Albus's flaming cheeks — cheeks aflame with lust.

"So're yoursh." Albus then felt himself sobering up as he concentrated hard on Scorpius's shirt, which was almost like a man-corset. It was closed in front by criss-crossing strings like a corset would have, but without the uncomfortable boning and rigid fabric.

After the shirt was successfully removed, Albus ducked as Scorpius unexpectedly tugged his shirt over his head (which was just a simple silk-screened tee) and threw it across the room. The blond made an interested noise, running his hands down Albus's smooth, lightly freckled chest. He could see by James and Lily's faces that they would be speckled all over their body. Albus had a small congregation of them on the bridge of his nose and cheeks, shoulders, and a few on his chest. Enough to be cute, but not too much… Scorpius realized that he'd been thinking about Albus's freckles for far too long and decided to focus on other areas of Potter's body.

Albus moaned lightly as he once again leaned over the boy under him, biting into the thick tendon on the side of his neck. Scorpius turned his head to the side to encourage more of his vampiric tendencies, making sounds commonly favored by animals in heat.

"Ah-Albush!" Scorpius breathed as Albus started lapping at his nipples like a cat would milk. Long fingers tangled in black hair, grey eyes closing in ecstasy. Albus thought the way Scorpius moaned his name was absolutely orgasmic, and he proceeded to suck open-mouthed kisses down his stomach. He took a moment to lightly breathe hot air into the pierced navel, satisfied as the muscles in his stomach jumped at the sensation.

'_Hmm,'_ he thought, '_this could be fun.'_ Albus lifted the bellybutton ring lightly with his tongue, just enough so it would tug a little, but not enough to cause pain. He pushed the barbell back and forth inside its fleshy encasing in a mockery of what he'd be doing soon.

After playing with the piercing to his heart's content, he moved down till he came to the seam of Scorpius's pants. He could feel the heat radiating from the crotch, and eagerly unbuttoned the garment.

"No underwear, shex bomb?" Albus said teasingly as Scorpius's erection sprung free of its compression.

"They chafe," he managed to reply, thrusting up slightly to gain something, anything to rub against his cock. Albus nuzzled the throbbing wizardhood before flicking his tongue lightly at the side. This coaxed a whine and more air humping, making Albus feel high with control.

Pulling Scorpius's trousers off completely to join the pile of clothes across the room, Albus struggled with the fastenings of his own leather pants that served only to complicate. Scorpius felt obligated to sit up and help, their drunk, fumbling fingers finally getting the evil tool of oppression removed.

"Shit! No lube!" Albus fretted, looking around, sending Scorpius into a tizzy because he was no longer being touched.

"Doesn't matter!" Scorpius took Albus's hand and stuck his middle finger in his mouth, making sure to swirl his tongue around the length of it so it was nice and slick. Albus gaped as he saw Scorpius doing what could only be considered giving his finger a blowjob. After lubricating the finger diligently, Scorpius brought the hand to his bum and guided the finger in slowly. "Go!" he said impatiently, waiting for Albus to get a move on.

Albus got into a more comfortable position to continue in, laying Scorpius on his back again and spreading his legs wide. He thrusted the finger in and out at a fast pace, getting the squirming blond used to being penetrated and stretching him a bit. He then bent over and used his tongue to help, now fucking him with two fingers and using his tongue as stimulation to make him relax.

"Put it in, Albus! Please!" Scorpius rasped as he grabbed at the rags and arched his back every so often. Albus pulled his fingers out and sat up on his knees, prodding Scorpius's mouth with his cock. Getting the hint, Scorpius quickly sucked up and down Albus's erection, not staying down there too long, and before he knew it, Albus had him in his lap and was pushing at his entrance. Thank Merlin for healing salve so he could have this night.

"Nngh! Hurts…" Scorpius whimpered as the first inch sunk in. His dick wasn't quite slick enough, making the process more painful than it should have been. Albus held him reverently, letting the boy rest for a moment before pushing up a little more. After stopping at uncertain intervals, Albus was finally fully inside Scorpius's tight heat.

"Okay," Scorpius whispered, finally used to Albus being inside him. He was most definitely the biggest he'd ever had, and wondered if anyone else would be enough for him after this. Albus gently laid them back so Scorpius was once again lying down, and he started moving slowly. Damn! He wondered how people lived without sex until marriage. This was fucking incredible!

"M-more." The whispered words drove Albus wild, and he gratefully complied, thrusting harder and faster. "More!"

Albus was panting and sweating lightly after only a few minutes, feeling himself coming close to orgasm. Scorpius was close, too, and stroking himself hurriedly. The rags they were screwing on were tumbling apart, making an Albus-Scorpius-sized indention. Scorpius started babbling, probably not aware he was speaking at all.

"Harder, faster, more, please, more! Unngh! Albus, yes! Oh, Merlin, yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes ye—ALBUS!" He screamed the last part, throwing his head to side during the 'yes, yes, yes's'. Scorpius arched up and emptied himself all over his chest in one long groan.

In one extremely sober moment right before he came, Albus realized exactly who was impaled upon his cock, and exactly what he'd been feeling for this person.

And it didn't irk him in the slightest.

"Scorpius!" he gasped, coming inside of him. Collapsing on top of Scorpius, he found himself hugging the blond to his chest. Scorpius was panting, practically gasping for breath, breathing against Albus's neck, which made him want to hold Scorpius tighter.

"Mmm… cuddly." Scorpius's mind went back to the alcohol-muddled stage and he rolled them over so they faced each other, cuddling. Scorpius then went right to sleep.

"…Holy shit!" Rose and Lily repeated. Albus jerked his head up to see the entirety of the female population of the party (and Kennedy) watching them.

"Do it again!"

* * *

"Leave me alone, James," Albus snapped, throwing his bag over his shoulder and walking fast to the entrance hall. James ran after him.

"Albus, stop! Seriously, it'll be—"

"Just leave me alone!" Then he started running, and James threw his hands up, deciding to follow from a distance so Albus got a little space.

Flopping on the ground under a tree in front of the Black Lake, Albus scrubbed his hands through his hair. He was so confused! He felt awful, for one, for leaving Scorpius in the Shrieking Shack alone to sleep, afraid of what the morning after would be like, and was now avoiding him at all costs. He was afraid of what he was feeling, because he didn't know what it was, damnit! It angered him when he didn't understand things, especially himself.

A small part of his mind told him that he was crushing on the blond, but then the bigger part on his mind told himself that that was completely stupid, because he'd hated Scorpius for years. Granted, they did have a sort of truce not long ago in the closet, but that wasn't enough for him to start liking the boy, was it? Didn't things like that take time?

And Scorpius had seemed so fine with everything, damn him! Though he was drunk, as was Albus, he still snuggled up to him and slept on him for a good ten minutes (before Albus made his hasty escape). He could see the way Scorpius's body went rigid as he rolled away and left, almost a subconscious cry for him to come back. A cry Albus almost obeyed until he saw Rose and Lily's sympathetic faces, obviously able to read his mind, and decided against it. Merlin, he hoped Scorpius wouldn't despise him for leaving before he woke up…

That, too! Albus never gave a flying fart in space what anyone thought of him — what he did, who he did, what he said — anyone, but Scorpius. Somehow, Scorpius's opinion of him mattered. A lot. So much that it disturbed him. He didn't know what he'd do if Scorpius went back to hating him after this, but he figured he would feel less… complete.

'_I'm probably over-thinking this,'_ he thought, stressed. He jumped as a hand clapped on his shoulder.

"James!" he exclaimed, only hoping a little bit that it was Scorpius. Seriously, only a little. "Did you follow me all the way here?"

"Yeah." James shrugged. "I wasn't going to just abandon my little brother when he was stressing."

Albus sighed. "You have no idea what I'm going through right now, so just—"

"—Go away, I know," he finished, copping a squat next to Albus. "Can't you tell your WONDERFUL big brother what's bothering you?"

"No," he said stubbornly, crossing his arms.

"Oh! Then I'll just have to guess!" He was pretending to be excited. "Are you, perhaps, confused over what happened with a certain blond Slytherin?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Albus brought his knees to his chest. "Fine. You win. I'm confused and upset because I have no idea what's going on, you know… inside me."

"Well, it seems pretty obvious to me." Albus raised his eyebrows. "You're hopelessly in love with him."

"James, if you're just going to be an ass, then—"

"Oh, Albus, don't be so daft!" James threw his hands up again. "We can all see it! You've been obsessed with Malfoy since first year! And he's been the same way with you!"

"That's—!" But he couldn't decide what 'that' was. "That's stupid!"

"Merlin, Albus, you great idiot! You don't find it strange that you two've been at each other's throats for the past six years for no apparent reason? That you seem to _WORK_ at hating each other? Did it ever occur to you that maybe there's a deeper reason buried underneath years and years of rivalry? I feel like a girl for having to tell you this."

"Merlin! You're just confusing me even more!" Albus made a frustrated noise, pulling his hair.

"Stop, stop," James said, pulling Albus's hands away from his head. "Past experience aside, what do you feel for Malfoy?"

Albus blinked at his older brother. What did he feel? He knew that Scorpius fueled his ambition, which he'd always assumed was because he wanted to do better than him, but… Oh, and he knew that he enjoyed their sex, that was really good. And he smelled nice, he was light and delicate, he had a cunning, sarcastic wit…

"The look on your face says it all," James pointed out, poking Albus between the eyes. "Think on it." And then he stood and left Albus to his thoughts.

* * *

"Hey, Rory." Dakota opened the door and let himself into the Astronomy Tower where Scorpius was sulking.

"Oh, hi, Koti." He sighed and hugged his knees.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Dakota asked uncertainly, sitting next to him.

"No." There was a silence. "I can't believe that bastard left before I fucking woke up, which wasn't pleasant in the slightest, let me tell you! My head still hurts like fuck and I'm nauseous..." He sighed brokenly and curled in on himself.

"Did you expect him to hold your hand while you barfed? Seriously? This is Albus Potter we're talking about," Dakota pointed out, rubbing his friend's back.

"Well, he should have! He shouldn't have shagged me if he wasn't prepared for the consequences!" He was pouting and sounding childish, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was hurt, but knew his pain was pointless. He knew Albus was a playboy, but for some reason he thought he was different. What a selfish thought. After all, why would Scorpius be any different than any other boy Potter had been with?

"Rory, Potter is a fuck machine; it doesn't matter who he fucks or what they want. He leaves them all anyway! He'll never be more than a player!"

"I don't even know why I slept with him." He was pouting now. "I knew he wouldn't want anything from me, and he probably thought the same of me, but…"

"You were drunk. Inhibitions disappear. I can't believe how much this is affecting you, Rory. This isn't like you." Dakota was extremely confused. Normally Scorpius was exactly like Albus in the respect that he loved and left, but for some reason Potter was eating at him, and it hurt Dakota that he couldn't do anything about it.

It was then that Scorpius looked out at the grounds and saw Albus hurdling rocks at the water viciously. An amused smile found its way on the blond's face as he watched him stomp around and then flop back on the ground angrily.

"You look like a love-struck teenage girl." Dakota smirked. "You know, for someone who's claimed to hate this boy for six years, you sure do care a lot about when he thinks of you."

Scorpius blushed before covering his eyes with his hands. "Oh, sweet Merlin, I'm crazy!"

"No!" Dakota insisted. "You're not crazy, but you do seem a little… well, your passion is still there, only now it's focused on him in a positive way as opposed to a negative way. Do you see that?"

Scorpius nodded miserably, seeming to have a revelation. "Koti, this is just so impossible… this is the kind of stuff that happens in romance novels! I'm angry and upset, but then again I'm not… And things just don't happen like that! My God, I'm so confused." He knew his thoughts were incoherent and that he was rambling, but his emotions were as crazy as a pregnant woman's.

"Why can't it? Others get their perfect romance stories. Why can't you have yours?" he asked softly. Scorpius lowered his hands from his eyes.

"He left before the rags dried, Koti. He doesn't feel anything for me at all…" He sniffed again.

"Look at him." Dakota pointed yonder towards Albus. Scorpius looked over sullenly. "See? He looks just as miserable as you do. Only… more like Tourette's-miserable as opposed to sad-miserable…"

"Yeah, I guess." Though Scorpius was only humoring him.

"C'mon! March, Rory, march!" Dakota pulled Scorpius up and pushed against his back, frog marching him down the stairs.

"H-Hey! Stoppit!" But Dakota didn't. He kept pushing a squirming Scorpius all the way to the entrance hall and pointed towards Albus, who was once again stomping.

"Piss, fire, hell, damn!" he could be heard screaming before kicking the tree he was sitting under, after which he promptly started hopping around like an idiot for kicking a tree and stubbing his toes. Scorpius sighed and walked to him, though Dakota wasn't pushing him anymore.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

"Potter!" Scorpius called to get Albus's attention, who abruptly stood straight despite his aching foot. "Um… hey."

"Oh… hey."

"I, uh… I just saw you hopping and jumping around and wondered if you were okay," Scorpius lied.

"Oh, well, I'm fine," Albus lied back. Scorpius nodded and looked at the ground, kicking his feet awkwardly. "Look, I'm sorry I left before you woke up…"

"No, it's okay. That's actually why I'm here." He bit his lip. "I've been thinking."

"A dangerous pastime." Albus tried to loosen the tension by being sarcastic. Scorpius chuckled weakly.

"I know. But… do you remember much of anything that happened last night?"

Albus shook his head. "No, not much. I remember having sex and you cuddling me, but that's about it."

Scorpius blushed seven shades of red. "Yeah, that was weird."

"No, it was, uh… not weird." Albus winced at his wording. "It was nice… I guess," he mumbled, trying to stay manly but failing. He should just admit to himself right now that he's a girl and pour his emotions out like a waterfall.

"Yeah? Well… the rest of it was nice, too." Scorpius was simply confused as to how to go about telling Albus. "_REALLY_ nice."

"Yeah," Albus agreed.

"And, uh… I'd like to do that again sometime. You know, if you'd like to—"

"Yes!" Albus blushed at his sudden outburst. "I mean, um… yeah, we could get together intimately again. I'd like that. But…" Albus scratched the back of his neck. "Just, don't get… intimate with anyone else, okay?" It seemed that neither one was going to admit it outright. It was a good thing they could take each other's hints.

"Yeah. You, either. So is our arrangement set?" Scorpius held his hand out.

"Indeed." Albus grasped his hand and shook it twice before yanking Scorpius forward and kissing him. The blond meeped at the sudden movement, but instinctively threw his arms around Albus's neck, causing them to tip over from the sudden weight. Without either of them able to stop it, they fell into the Black Lake.

Quickly recovering, they crawled out of the lake soaking wet and coughing, trying to escape before the Giant Squid could get them, and they both fell to the ground laughing.

Albus sat up on his elbow and leaned over the blond, smiling warmly, and kissed his wet lips.

"Awww," Lily said dreamily as she watched from a distance with Rose, James, and Dakota.

"Yeah," James agreed.

"They're so cute!" Rose squealed.

"And they lived happily ever after," Dakota said softly, watching as their kiss started to deepen. The couple stood and shucked their sodden school robes, Albus whipping Scorpius's ass with his, who squealed and slapped his arm playfully.

"Well… sort of."


End file.
